


The Sum of His Parts

by orphan_account



Category: SOMA (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:04:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5381441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After launching the ARK, there are still three Simon's left alive, this story will follow all three of their lives. I will be keeping the first two chapters pretty in line with the story but as you all probably know I pretty much have free reign from there. Happy readings!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Come on, Load!

Was the last thing Simon had heard before being awoken in an area completely new.

He stood from his chair and took a look around, “Is this--Did it work?” he asked himself.

He studied his “human” hands with an almost childish fascination, lacking the luxury of skin for so long. Simon had lost all sense of any time whilst on Pathos-II but he could only guess how long it had been.

Simon started off further into the cave he’d awoken in, seeing vines drape from the ceilings, letting in light from the outside. He looked at the beautiful purple flowers that rested on the vines before moving on, the stalactites and stalagmites looking rather treacherous. Though now that he thought about it, rocks were the least of his fears at this point. As Simon ventured only slightly further through the cave he saw day break through the rocky outcropping. Raising an arm to shield him from the sun’s blazing streams of light he stepped outside.

Simon was caught off guard as he looked at the beautiful green foliage, the birds chirping somewhere distant. He looked to his right and saw the beautiful river and waterfall. Even in the events of the last few days’ weeks’ hell months’ even, he still found beauty in the flowing of the water, and the way it crashed over the rocks that lay in the middle of the small stream. He walked towards it carefully, bending down and placing a hand into the liquid.

The water curled and broke around his fingers as it should, the cold and wet sensation of water trailing across his fingertips. He drew back his hand and shook off the small droplets of water still clinging to his hand before looking back up again.

He walked a bit more, to a wooden bridge in which a terminal had been placed. Simon gave it a glancing look and continued. He might puke if he saw another terminal anytime soon.

He walked slowly and took in the glory of it all. The rocks, the flowers, the grass, the trees, the sky, the...clouds.

Simon felt the smile on his face fade for a moment as he thought about something Catherine had said to him, about how she would watch the clouds roll by. He found himself plagued by her memory and suddenly, he had to see her. She had to be here somewhere, she’d been scanned first after all. He picked up his slow pace as he passed through a small enclosure of rocks and felt the ground beneath his feet shift from dirt to sand. He let his hand skim across the rough edge of the rock wall before rounding the corner and seeing a familiar figure, facing the ocean and clad in navy blue and yellow attire.

“Catherine?” he found himself calling out to her.

She couldn’t hear his half-hearted question, his throat choking back the tears that threatened to pour from his eyes at any moment. He took a few more timid steps closer and saw the figure in a much more refined detail. He could see strands of her hair floating loosely in the small gusts of wind. The pale skin on the back of her neck, the same pale skin that had kept him sane, the same black haired girl who had put everything she had on him in no time flat, the one who trusted him, the one who cared for him, even if he dare thought it needed him…

He stopped in his tracks as the realization hit him, it actually was Catherine.

“Catherine!” he choked out, his smile genuine and his arms wide open.

Catherine twirled to face him, as soon as her eyes had even caught a glimpse of him her arms opened as well, both walking towards each other in the sand.

Simon grabbed her and wrapped her small body into his, her arms wrapping around his back almost instinctively. In that very moment, it felt as if their bodies had been made to fit each others’. Simon held Catherine their for a while, letting the reality of it all sink in. They had made it, on the ARK. Where they would survive for thousands of years in the vastness of space. The thought made him anxious, but the smell of...Catherine calmed him. He had never seen or felt Catherine anywhere but on a screen, but the smell was so-her. There was no way to truly describe it.

Catherine gently broke the embrace just enough to look Simon in the eyes, his actual eyes, for the first time. Catherine had never seen him before but this is exactly what she’d pictured him as. She smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Simon returned the smile before speaking, “I can’t believe we made it.”

Catherine listened to his soft voice resonate through her ears and into her soul as she tried to think of a response that would even remotely explain her feelings.

“I know, but all that matters is that it’s alright now Simon. Everything’s alright.” she said before pulling her head back into his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head. 

They stayed there for a very long time.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Simon 4 was "Living it large on a spaceship" we take a look at what was happening down below.

"Come on, Load!" screamed Simon, just as the yellow bar of the screen shot to the end and finished the download.

"Yeah, yes! Fuck yeah, we made it! Ha-Ha! Whoo!" he screamed.

He watched in silence as the rocket blasted away into the atmosphere. What he didn't know was that he wouldn't be on it.

The pilot seat's screen lifted itself from his head as he looked around, confused.

"I'm still here… I'm still here…" he said to himself, not wanting to believe it.

He knew in the back of his head why he was here but there was no way he would accept it that easily, something must have gone wrong.

"Catherine? Catherine?" he said, needingly. He needed to hear her voice, to confirm everything would be alright.

"I'm here." came Catherine's response.

He sighed a breath of relief at hearing her voice before proceeding to ask his question, "What went wrong?"

"Nothing, they're out there, among the stars." she said.

Refusing to believe it still, he pressed on, "No I saw it, it finished downloading just before it launched."

"I saw."

"Then why are we still here?" he asked, his voice desperate for a resolution.

"Simon, I can't keep explaining how it works! You know why we're still here! You were copied onto the ARK, you lost the coin toss, we both did! Just like the Simon at Omicron just like the man who died in Toronto 100 years ago!" she said, her voice irritated with him.

"We're gonna die down here with those fuckers living it large on a spaceship! They're not us. They are not us."

"Now I'm sorry you feel that way Simon but Simon and Catherine are safe, on the ARK, be happy for them." she said, trying to calm him down but to no avail.

Now what he did next he knew he shouldn't have done, but the pure rage, frustration, confusion, all of it. All of the pent up emotions he had, he felt now was the best time to take them out on her. On the Catherine, the only person he'd had by his side since his arrival at Lambda, the only one who seemed to care. The only one out of all he'd met, that seemed human. Not even Sara was as human as Catherine to him, but still he chose her to take out his frustrations on.

"No, no, no. Fuck this! Fuck! Fuck you! Fuck you Catherine you lied, and I believed you, I trusted you!" He screamed, a voice not his own taking over, the one of control and ignorance and rage.

In a fierce voice Catherine retaliated, the screen just to his right shattering under the stress, "I didn't lie! I can't be responsible for your goddamn ignorance! You fucki-"

"Fuck!" screamed Simon as the screen displaying Catherine's face was shattered and her beautiful face now replaced with an error message.

Critical failure, please retry, please retry, please retry…

"Catherine?" he asked, on the brink of tears.

"Please don't leave me alone." nothing.

"Catherine? Catherine!" he yelled, standing and grabbing the screen on either side.

He stared at the blinking error message a while longer before collapsing back into his chair and his resolve crumbled. He lowered his head and cried, or more made the noises of crying, his chest heaving uncontrollably as his mechanical eyes, incapable of shedding tears, closed, his face in his hands.

He sobbed a bit more before finally gaining enough composure to speak. With his head still in his hands, his voice lowered and shaking, heaving along with his chest, he spoke.

"I'm sorry…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon wakes up at Omicron, all alone with no Catherine to guide him, and no omnitool to get him out.

Simon's head hurt. A lot. If you could even call whatever this was a head.

He rubbed at his nonexistent temples and found the dive suit's helmet in the way. He shook his head for a moment before letting his robotic eyes blink to adjust to the light.

He thought for a moment before touching the side of his head again.

A dive helmet.

"I'm still here… I'm still here…" he said, looking down at his hands and flexing them in the structure gel covered fabric..

He went to push himself out of the pilot's seat before collapsing back down. Something had taken a lot out of him.

"Catherine." he said, expecting her motherly voice to come resonating from the speakers and into his ears.

What he got was silence.

"Catherine?" he asked, now a bit concerned.

He pushed himself up once more, fighting through the feeling of passing out at a moment's notice and staggering to the doorframe. He grasped the door frame for dear life before finally shoving off from there and colliding with the center desk and once again holding onto the solid structure. Once again gaining enough willpower to shove off he finally crashed against the computer console where her omnitool had been plugged in.

When he saw the tool missing and the screen blank he grabbed at the air where the omnitool should have been, half expecting himself to stop hallucinating at any moment, but that moment never came. He moaned in frustration, biting back a sob. He looked away from the port to try and ease the stinging in his synthetic eyes. This was the time he noticed that the power suit from D was missing, body and all.

Deep down he knew why, but he didn't want to know, so he made himself ignorant for his own sanity's sake. Saying someone had come along while he was out. He soon realized that even then that didn't calm him. He still had no Catherine, and no power suit.

Simon's thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on the heavy steel door that gave entry to the room. He snapped his head in the door's direction as a screech echoed throughout the halls of Omicron. He remembered the proxy he had left in the hall, the memory replayed in his mind briefly.

He could feel the sweat on his forehead, though he had neither of those things. His chest heaved and his lungs burned, all the sensations he should have felt if he was running for his life. He rounded the corner, his boots skidding across the metal floor and his legs kicking back on as he faced the hallway. His legs shot him down the straight and narrow path, the proxy mere feet behind him as he burst into the room where Catherine lay.

"Shut the door and lock it!" he screamed.

The door slammed downwards, a thud against the steel frame coming directly in line with the red light that covered the panel to open the door.

"Why?!" responded Catherine in surprise, though she'd done what he'd asked without hesitation.

"Just do it!" he yelled back, looking at the door and backing away as the proxy continued pounding on the metal.

"I did, I did, are you ok?" she asked.

Simon bent over and place his hands on his thighs, "No, no I'm not."

"Simon, you are a robot, you don't need to breathe." said Catherine, a slight lilt of playfulness to her voice.

Simon smiled, or did what could be considered a smile and responded, "Shut up Catherine."

"You know you love me."

Simon drifted out of his memories and back into reality, which was definitely more gloomy. She had copied him, copied him and left with the other Simon, without him. But was she with him? After all how would she know, he would still claim to be the right Simon, how could she have known that it wasn't him, the him that he is, the same that he's always been. He needed someone to say something to him, talk to him to distract him from actually thinking, thinking was dangerous now. Simon knocked his head back against the wall and slid slowly down to a sitting position. Simon drew his knees to his chest and listened.

Simon was all alone, with no way to go anywhere. He tried not to think, not wanting to drift into the part of his memories that he kept subdued in the back of his mind, the ones of Ashley, of the dreams he had, nightmares more accurately. And he especially didn't want to rediscover his feelings for her. She had left him here, right?

Or had she left with Simon? Was he even the real Simon? Well he knew the answer to that was no, Simon had died 100 years ago. This was why he didn't want to think. Maybe he should just drain his battery now, get it over with. He looked to his left and saw the room containing the pilot's seat. This was when he realized he didn't know if he could, or even would, be able to drain his battery by himself. He'd never planned on dying alone, he'd planned on dying surrounded by friends and family, Ashley, Jesse, his parents, his little sister...Catherine.

"Aargh!" he yelled, slamming a fist into the terminal next to him, denting the metal.

He looked over at the dented metal and back to his hand. He flexed it a few times before looking back towards the metal. He closed his fist and drew back his hand once more and punched. The metal gave way under his fist and left a large hole in the console. He smiled to himself and let his legs slide forwards loosely before knocking his head back once more and letting himself finally drift into his thoughts, closest to sleep he'd get these days.


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life on the ARK seems to be nice, but some things are not always what they seem.

Simon finally released Catherine from his arms and let her step back a bit. He took in every aspect of her, everything from the delighted smile on her face down to how her head felt nuzzled against his chest. It was a warm sensation and he longed for it again, after all, it had been 100 years since he’d last had human contact. He stared at her, half expecting her to disappear at any moment and to wake up in Pathos-II, the omnitool snapped to his tool-belt and a feeling of dread in his heart. The moment never came.

“So what do we do now?” he asked Catherine.

“Well, we could…”

“Come on, we could what?”

“We could watch the clouds go by?” she said,a smile playing across her face as Simon simultaneously remembered the words she’d said to him long before.

Simon smiled in response, “Sounds perfect.” 

Catherine smiled larger and brushed a strand of black hair from her face before looking upwards at him again. 

Simon gestured into the distance, “Lead the way.”

Catherine turned and began walking down the beach, Simon in tow. Simon followed her through the sand, the feel of the grains against his feet almost unreal. He followed Catherine a bit more before she walked off of the sand and onto the grass. He jogged to walk beside her as they walked up a grassy hillside, side-by-side once more. They came to rest at the top of the hill, Catherine sitting and Simon following. They sat and watched the clouds out over the ocean drift by, carefree and loose from all trouble, just like them. Simon fell back into the soft cushion of the grassy knoll. He breathed in a long and easy breath, his lungs almost being able to feel the freshness of the air. The air had a particular taste, a smell, undescribable by Simon’s vocabulary. 

Catherine thumped down next to him, clasping her hands together on her stomach and looking up at the perfectly white clouds. She let out a sigh of relief, the realization now really settling in. They were safe. They were safe and everything was alright in this little world that they’d created. She let her left hand fall from her stomach and onto the ground beside her, letting her fingers creep along the ground until they found Simon’s hand. She grasped his hand in hers, his much larger hand almost not fitting in her petite hands. She turned her head up to face Simon, finding his eyes staring back into hers. He was blushing, his lips slightly parted and his eyes focused in on her own. She looked away and pretended to watch the clouds again to cover the blush threatening her cheeks as Simon’s hand turned and encased her hand in his, he too turning to watch the sky once more.

He didn’t know how long they’d watched the clouds roll by, it seemed like ever since he’d met her time wasn’t real, like there was no time at all. He hadn’t slept since he’d arrived on Pathos but he could guess it had been awhile because the last check he’d gotten was that it was 3o'clock in the morning. Catherine was the first to stand, her warming touch slowly slipping from his fingertips. She brushed off her back before turning to look down on him.

“Well, let’s go. Don’t you want to see the city?”

Simon looked at her curiously before pushing himself up with his arms and dusting off as well.

“Sounds fun, let’s go.” he said.

Catherine gave him a playful grin before taking off down the hill and onto the sand.

“Hey, get back here! Cath!” he said, chuckling as he chased the short haired girl across the beach. 

He was gaining on her and she knew it, her giggles becoming audible from the distance he’d closed. She turned and looked at him, skipping backwards as he came barreling towards her.

Simon saw her turn to face him, her hair surrounded by a halo of sunlight, the beach and the distant towers of the city visible behind her, but suddenly he wasn’t there anymore, he was in one of the hallways of Pathos-II, running much more frantically than he had been. His legs pumped on overdrive as he heard a crash behind him, followed by a screech. He looked for any possible exit. Seeing a doorway that was open he went to turn but slipped, rolling across the surprisingly soft metal floors. He turned to face his attacker as he began crawling away on his hands, scrambling away from the creature, infested by the WAU. He tried to yell, but no sound came from his throat, only a strangled gasp as the creature reached him. He shielded himself with his arms as the creature reached out for him.

He waited for a claw, a tooth, anything to just pierce his flesh and have it over with, but he suddenly felt a cool breeze brush across his cheek, and as his hearing slowly came back to him he heard his name, and now also realized he was covered in a gritty material. As Simon opened his eyes, he saw the sand of the beach, and heard Catherine calling out for him mixed with his own labored breathing. He put one of his hands on the ground and felt the sand rake across his fingers. He reached out towards Catherine and her hand found his, both of her hands clasping over his own. He needed something solid to hold onto, something to prove to him that this was real.

He finally gained the nerve to look up at Catherine as his breathing leveled and Catherine’s voice, calling out for his name ceased.

“W-what just happened.” asked Simon with a shaken soul.

“You fell down and then started screaming and crawling away from me. You weren’t all here either, you were definitely somewhere else, I could tell by your eyes Simon, what’s up?” asked Catherine in her ever caring soprano.

Simon scoffed, “You think I know?” he asked jokingly, trying to hide the fact that he was scared senseless for Catherine’s sake.

Catherine had a concerned look on her face, biting the inside of her cheek, but it disappeared as she helped him to his feet and they continued on to the city, walking a bit slower this time.

As him and Catherine walked along a grassy path up to the front of the city they saw another person in jogging attire, well, jogging towards them. As she went to pass us she slowed and looked at each of us. We kept walking but stopped when we heard her voice.

“Catherine?” she asked.

Catherine turned around, actually looking at the woman closely this time.

“Imogen?” Catherine asked excitedly.

Simon tensed for a moment because he had heard that name before, the name of the woman in the diving suit he’d awoken in. This was the woman that had a cortex chip shoved into her head while in a diving suit and then dused with the suit itself, and on top of that her dead body was then taken over by a 108 year old dead man and used to help getting this thing into space. Simon gulped before turning to finally meet the woman that had essentially made any of this possible.

Catherine and Reed were hugging and having the normal girl talk, ‘how have you been’ ‘how’s it going’ all that. But soon enough the moment he knew was coming, came.

“Cath,” she said, peeking over the girl’s head, “Who’s this?”

Simon saw her red hair and freckles come into view, her bright green eyes landing on him as she lifted her head. He felt sorry for her, she had no clue what had happened to her, the her that was actually her. But then again, wouldn’t that be mercy at this point? He phased out of his thoughts as he heard his name.

“This is Simon, he’s the one that pretty much single handedly launched the ARK.” said Catherine with a proud smile.

Simon blushed a bit before sticking his hand out to shake Reed’s, “Not totally true, Catherine was there 100% of the way.”

Imogen grasped his hand firmly and shook, smiling at him, “Well nice to meet you, I’m Imo-”

She was cut off as Simon shook back, “Imogen Reed, Catherine’s told me a lot about you.” that was a lie, but it sounded good.

“Oh really? Well I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around Theta, where’d you work on the plateau?” she asked.

Simon smiled as he got to answer this question again, Catherine may need to jump in to help with this one, “I’m actually from Toronto. But not the Toronto you know. I’m from 2015.” he said.

Red seemed taken aback, looking at Catherine for an affirmation. Catherine simply nodded and smiled.

“That sounds like an interesting story, tell it to me later, after my jog. See you guys later!” she said before jogging off towards the beach.

Catherine turned to look at Simon before gesturing back towards the city, “Shall we?”

Simon gave her a sidelong glance, “Maybe the inhabitants there will be a bit more friendly than the proxies.” he said with a chuckle, walking forward as he felt the jab at his arm.

“Nice one, those are my co-workers you know?”

“Fully aware of that fact.”

“Shut up Simon.”

“You know you love me!”

“God what are we doing, we’re conversing at the level of two third graders!”

Simon burst out laughing at this, sending a wave of heat through the tiny woman, her hands bunching into fists and her cheeks flushing red. Simon looked over at her normally pale complexion that was now burning red, causing him to laugh harder.

“I should have never programmed blushing in the ARK.” she said sarcastically before finally returning to her normal color. 

They both shared a laugh before coming upon the looming gates of the city. The gates were enormous, but wide open, there was no reason to close them. They loomed over the two by at least 50 odd feet before reaching their climax.

“Wow…” came the breathy reaction from Simon, looking up at the towering walls that were immediately dwarfed by the humongous, geometrical buildings that rose up over everything. 

He turned in a circle as he walked, looking at the beautiful scenery of this city. He saw a few people while he walked alongside Cathrine, most of them giving a hello and a smile before continuing, some looked at us curiously, most notably Brandon Wan, which was probably due to his history in security. He gave a questioning look before waving and continuing on his way. We didn’t have to walk far before coming to the middle of the city, after all how big could a city be that was only meant to hold 60 or so people?

Catherine sat down on one of the park benches surrounding the enormous live oak at the very center of town. Simon sat next to her, admiring the amazing thing. The leaves were a dark shade of green, it’s canopy rusting in the breeze of the summer air. They sat in silence for a moment before Catherine spoke.

“You know, I honestly didn’t know if we’d ever make it this far, but every time I popped back into existence we were always a bit closer and a bit closer. Thank you, Simon.”

“I already told you, you don’t have to thank me.” he said with a smile.

“I mean it though, I really do. Now instead of decades we’re giving the last remnants of humanity thousands of years. And that to me is pretty amazing.”

“Well, if I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m just glad I got to do it with you.”

The city fell silent, save for the rustling of the leaves and the distant crash of the waves against the beach.


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Simon down in Phi has decided it's finally time to do something with himself

Simon looked up from the chair which he’d been staring down at for ages now. He looked up at the error message still displayed on the terminal’s black and white screen. He sighed and looked back down.

“Not doing any good for Catherine just sitting here…” he reasoned with himself.

Simon stood from his chair and reached for the omnitool, but froze. He saw the disconnected symbol on the omnitool, the same symbol of when Catherine would eject herself. He exhaled through his nose and shook away the memories of her before taking the omnitool and clipping it onto his belt. At least the tool itself still worked. He pushed himself up from the chair and turned on his helmets floodlights. The powerless section of Pathos-II was extremely dark in its confined spaces, the only lights that were on were the doors’ control panels, powered by the emergency generators. Simon took the walk across the metal grated catwalk back to the sealed door slowly, letting the floodlights guide him. Approaching the airlock he pressed the yellow Pathos symbol on the door’s control panel and waited patiently for the vault like door to unlock itself.

As the heavy door swung outwards into the ocean Simon stepped inside and closed it. Unclipping the omnitool from his belt he held it up to the pressurizing terminal and let it sync before the airlock compressed itself, flushing the water out. Simon opened the next door and once again patiently waited for all of the steel locks to undo before stepping out. The inside of Phi was lit by very dim lights at set intervals, the entire facility running on nothing but emergency generators. Before clipping the omnitool back to his belt, Simon lifted it up to look at it.

Simon ran his fingers across the structure gelled cortex chip and whispered a silent promise, “I’m gonna bring you back Cath… I promise.”

He fluidly clipped the omnitool back on and began walking. Walking where he didn’t know but it was better than sitting in that chair for the rest of his battery powered life. He wondered how much battery he had left. Enough to make it to another one? Enough to save Catherine? Several other questions flooded his mind similarly to the airlocks before being knocked loose from his own reality and back into the real one. A loud clang came from a hallway to his right. Simon instinctively crouched to the ground and stuck a hand to the wall. Walking towards the source of the multiple crashes and clangs, dragging his hand across the wall to his left, he saw the area in which the sound had been coming. A door was open on the right, letting out a light brighter than the hallway’s lights.

Slipping from wall to wall Simon quietly crouched next to the open door. Grabbing the edge of the doorframe Simon poked the top half of his power suit’s dome like helmet past the metal wall to peek into the room. Inside was a strange humanoid figure, covered in grotesque WAU based growths. The blue bubbles of WAU connected by a spider web of black lines were covering the right half of the female’s body, whatever she was, it was no longer human. Simon swung back around to the safety of the wall and took a few deep breaths to compose himself, his heartbeat being able to be heard inside his helmet, the rhythmic thump speeding up as he began to peek back around the corner.

Attempting to see what this strange female creature was hunched over and making all this racket for had driven Simon to become curious, a dangerous thing in Pathos-II. In an attempt to get a better look his diving helmet bumped the door frame. Simon snapped his eyes shut and mentally cursed himself for not being smart enough to watch his visor. Slowly opening his eyes back up Simon looked at the WAU monster. The creature had stopped what it was doing and it was staring, right at him. Simon slowly stood, keeping his eyes on the proxy before reaching full height.

Looking at her face now, she didn’t seem to different from a normal human, excluding the fact the right side of her body was a jumbled mess of structure gel and WAU infestation. She looked at him curiously before turning her body to face him as well. The grey Pathos tank top she was wearing was also half covered by the infestation.

Simon slowly backed away from the door and planned his exit strategy, mapping it out in his head as the proxy creature made a slow step towards him.

“Please run, I can’t hold it off for long.” came the voice from the humanoid.

The voice was strained and mechanically altered, but the proxy had stopped mid-step, the still human part of her probably trying to give him a chance, which he gladly took. His first few footsteps were false ones, his wet boots gaining a horrendous amount of traction on the catwalk like floors of Phi’s hallways. He stumbled but caught himself with his hands and propelled himself forwards. As he rounded the corner to another hallway he heard the screech of the proxy behind him. He had a large gap between them but not large enough. The proxy was gaining fast and he had no way of losing her.

Simon skidded around another corner and heard the proxy slide by and crash into a closed door before regaining her equilibrium and coming back towards him in a dead sprint; no pun intended. Grabbing onto the edge of a door as he ran by he swung around and hid in the door casing as the proxy came barreling down the hall. Simon waited for the right moment before sticking his arm out and clipping the proxy in the throat, his arm feeling like it was pulled off by the impact. As the proxy slammed into the metal floors Simon heard the crack of her skull. He flinched to the sound before looking down at the girl. Her golden brown hair was matted with nearly black blood, but the look on her face was almost… relieved. Simon placed two fingers above her eye and closed her eyes for her, paying respect to another soul claimed by Pathos-II.

Looking around Simon recognized the room he was in. He looked to his left and saw the area in which he’d initially loaded the ARK into a bullet. He also saw the trail of blood leading to a body in which couldn’t be seen from this angle. He took a hesitant step towards the room, ahead of matted brown hair appearing in his view. He blinked a few times before moving forward again. He could see her entire head now, face down on the metallic floor. What he was considering was borderline psychotic but it’s not like there was anyone to tell him so. He built up more courage as he walked, eventually coming to a stop over the body clad in the same power suit he wore. He hadn’t realized how small Catherine was until now, her body coming to a height of maybe 5’2” if his brain was measuring correctly. He saw the indention where the wrench had dented her skull, killing her with blunt force trauma. He was angered by the thought of it. Her team members, closest to her, were the ones responsible. It was ridiculous.

Simon timidly reached down and grabbed the girl’s shoulder, turning her body over where it lay. He brushed a bloodied strand of hair from her face and looked at Catherine’s actual face for the first time. She hadn’t yet started to decay, though her face had begun to sink from the lack of active hydration. Simon carefully sat and looked into her eyes, sunken back into her head but beautiful nevertheless. He reached down and grabbed her hand in his, squeezing the gloved hand for his own sanity.

“Hey Cath…” he said, breaking the deafening silence of Phi’s lonely halls.

“I, uh- last time we spoke I- I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have been angry at you, you told me what would happen and I refused to accept it and I’m sorry.” he said, half expecting an answer.

“So how have you been?” he said, chuckling when he received no answer.

“Yeah, me too…” he said, letting her hand fall from his own before letting his head fall into his hands.

“What am I doing?” he asked himself with a deep throated chuckle before going to rub his hands through his hair but ended up stroking the top of the helmet after he realized he 1, had a helmet and 2, had no hair. 

He looked down into Cath’s face one more time before closing her eyes as well.

“I hope you’re living it large up their on the ARK.” he said before pushing off his knees and standing.

Simon ran over the mental checklist in his head. He was alone at the bottom of the ocean, with no one else to even possibly communicate with. On top of that the rest of the world had gone to shit and his only friend was gone. But that wasn’t all, he also had a copy of himself stuck about 9000 km above him and monsters after him at every turn. Not to mention the-

Simon thought again.

There was another Simon out there, with no omnitool in a room guarded by a proxy and on the plateau, where they had power. That was an achievable goal. Omicron had useful materials and an omnitool port for Catherine. Not to mention batteries.

Simon nodded to himself as he formed a plan in his downloaded brain before nodding affirmatively and taking off towards the airlock with a new purpose and a goal to achieve. Something to strive for.

Not to mention the possibility of saving Catherine.


	6. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omicron Simon has touched on the brink of madness but can someone bring him back from the edge?

Simon rocked back and forth on the floor of Omicron’s dive room.

“They’re coming back… They’ll be back for me… Yeah, yeah, Catherine and… Me… They’re-We’re-They’re gonna save me…” He mumbled to himself.

The proxy slammed against the door again and screeched.

“SHUT UP!!!” he screamed at the door.

The proxy screeched back. Simon knocked his head back against the wall and groaned in frustration as he realized what he was doing.

“I’m going insane.” he chuckled.

“You were always insane you big doof.” came a feminine voice.

“Catherine?” he asked, searching for her voice.

He swept the room with his eyes. Looking to his left, to his right, back to his left. And suddenly Catherine was there, right in front of him. She was standing at full height in a regular black hoodie and jeans. Exactly how he’d imagined her. Almost too exactly.

“I’m right here.” she said crouching down to his level.

Simon looked into her eyes and saw the deep blue that he always saw on the monitors.

“It really is you…” He said, slowly coming to a crouch himself, “Oh thank God!” he said, reaching around her and pulling her into a hug.

But suddenly he fell forwards, his arms wrapping around themselves as he found that there was nothing there to hug. He caught himself quickly and pushed himself up before he could fall face first into the steel floors.

“Cath? Cath?! Catherine where’d you go?” he said, realizing all too late he was hallucinating.

“Oh God I really am going insane!” he said to himself.

He looked around the room and found it just how he’d left it, everything the same. But when he looked at the omnitool’s port there was one thing that had changed. He looked at the omnitool and looked away.

“I know you’re not real.” he said before looking back and seeing the tool gone.

He sighed and walked over to the heavy steel door the proxy was struggling with.

“Seems you’re the only one here to keep me company.” he said, the labored breathing of the proxy able to be faintly made out on the other side of the door.

“Jesus, I need help.”

He felt the door vibrate as the proxy beat against it a few more times.

“Why can’t you just bust in here and kill me already? I mean no one’s coming for me. Everyone’s dead. Everyone. Even me, I’m not really alive y’know?” he said, not expecting an answer but simply rambling on to himself.

“You see I died a while ago, 108 years ago to be exact. It’s a funny story really, you se-” he was cut short by a new banging sound.

Simon froze, so did the proxy before screeching at the new noise. Simon rose from where he sat and heard a door opening and then closing again. Simon rushed to the dive room’s external door and looked through the small window on the door.

He looked through and saw the white power suit armor. The white power suit armor with it’s floodlight on and omnitool in hand. He watched him swipe the tool and wait patiently or the water to flush itself from the room and decompress. As the figure turned and looked at the glass they both looked at each other for the first time. The power suited figure froze in the middle of placing his omnitool on his belt. Simon’s eyes wandered to the tool and widened as far as the monitors would widen as he saw the structure gel infused cortex chip that had been Catherine’s.

The other Simon had come back after all. As the door opened in front of him Simon stepped back for it to open as the power suit walked through with hands his hands in the air.

“Now let me explain.”


End file.
